A Rain Check
by TheMarvelousAsgardian
Summary: What happened at 8:00 at the Stork Club and a little after that. Just a one-shot I wrote after a lot of sad music and Steve/Peggy clips.


**Just a little Steve and Peggy for you :) Hope you like it!**

The night air was cold, with a dark, star-speckled sky up above, despite the numerous city lights. She stood outside the club, 7:50pm, waiting for her date outside the building, where lights and music radiated from inside.

The Stork Club.

 _8 o'clock, on the dot. Don't you dare be late. Understood?_

7:55

7:59

There was a moment, one moment, where she half expected him to show up, emerging from the streets in front of her to sweep her into his arms and tell her it had all been a bad dream. That he would always be by her side and never ever leave her again.

 _Just be there._

8:01

The clock struck 8:05 as Peggy Carter finally glided into the club, her red dress nearly touching the floor as it swished around her feet. She headed for the back corner, a space unoccupied by people, and set her bag down, staring out at the all couples dancing on the floor.

 _I'm gonna need a rain check on that dance._

"Alright," she said, heading for the band playing up front, plastering a fake smile on her face.

"Something slow," she requested, handing one of the men a few bucks.

"If you insist, darlin'," he replied with a sticky smile, striking up a slow, romantic dance song as Peggy headed back to her corner.

Trembling, she held her right hand up in the air, grasping her nonexistent partner, her left on a shoulder that wasn't there.

 _You know, I still don't know how to dance._

"I'll show you how," she whispered as her voice cracked, tears beginning to stream down her face.

So Peggy Carter danced, swaying in perfect motion with her invisible partner, the man who had given up everything to save the world. The man who had left her here, alone and heartbroken.

 _Peggy, this is my choice._

As the song came to a close, she brought her hands down, gave a small salute in Steve's honor, and exited the club.

* * *

70 YEARS LATER: BEFORE THE BATTLE OF NEW YORK.

He still hadn't quite gotten the hang of computers, so he sat at a desk in the basement reading a file on the history of SHIELD, thumbing through old SSR reports until he came across a name.

 _Peggy Carter_

And under that:

 _Co-Founder of SHIELD_

With a start, Steve grabbed a pile of folders from a nearby table, frantically searching until he found it.

 _Margaret Carter, Strategic Scientific Reserve and co-founder of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division._

 _April 9_ _th_ _, 1921 –_

The space was blank.

She was still alive.

Still alive.

He opened his compass, still in his pocket after all these years, and looked at the picture for a moment, before finally locating an address in the file.

* * *

WASHINGTON DC

She lay in a bed, 92 years old, staring at the ceiling and thinking of Steve. The cute little smile that he had. How hard he tried to keep up with the other men before the serum. The way he believed so much in doing the right thing.

His heartbreak after Bucky's death.

Their kiss, the first and the last.

His sacrifice, one man to save millions.

Her dance for him.

How she came back to the Stork Club every week after that for a while, then every other, then once a month, once a year…

She closed her eyes, locking Steve's smile in her mind.

Footsteps, in the hall.

Walking towards her bed.

Someone took her hand, his hands rough and strong. And… Familiar…

She heard her clock on the wall strike 8:00pm.

She opened her eyes.

And there he was. Steve Rogers, a small, sad smile playing across his lips.

"You're late," she whispered, not believing what she saw in front of her.

"Oh yes, I am," he laughed as he squeezed her hand.

He told her. About the ice. How they had brought him out.

And then he stood up, walked to the end of her bed. She noticed his clothes, a formal navy blue suit and tie, an old SSR pin clipped to the jacket.

"I believe I owe you a dance," he said. "But I'm afraid I still don't know how."

She smiled as her eyes filled with tears.

"Your left hand holds your partner's right," she replied as he held up his right hand, her voice soft and frail. "And your right goes around her waist."

He mimed the actions, holding his invisible partner.

"Then you step out with your left, turn, and….." She continued, telling him the motions and the turns as he moved about the room, dancing as best he could as both of them laughed together, united at last.

And he even managed not to step on her feet.

 **This is actually one of the first serious things I've ever written,** **so reviews would be absolutely marvelous!**


End file.
